The Weapons of the Primarchs

The Weapons of the Primarchs

As befits their stature as giant demigods of battle the Primarchs of the Legiones Astartes wore some of the most advanced and master-crafted armor ever forged by mankind and wielded weapons of terrible potency. Some of the weapons wielded by the Primarchs were hand-forged by the Emperor or themselves, masterworks of creation custom made for the hands that wielded them, others were ancient, unique and irreplaceable archaeotech, weapons forged in a distant golden age and now put to bloody work on the battlefields of the Great Crusade. In truth most of the Primarchs maintained vast armories full of priceless antiquities and masterwork weapons of all kinds. Yet each also tended to have a favored arsenal they would return to time and again or a particular set of weapons that were famed more than others. Here we will look at some of the most famous of those weapons. 

Legion I - Dark Angels - Lion El'Johnson

-The earliest weapon wielded by the Primarch of the first legion was the Wolf Blade, a monstrously oversized chainsword of peerless make whose silver chain-teeth are capable of cutting through the strongest armor with ease. Yet in the later days of the Great Crusade a different blade would become more closely associated with the Primarch of the Dark Angels, the Lion Sword. A massive broadsword of ancient and unknown provenance the Lion Sword. The Lion Sword was said to glow with a subtle inner light and scorched those struck by the blade with a silver flame. The Lion Sword disappeared in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, though some dark rumors persist that a strange individual in the armor and iconography of the Dark Angels who wields a paired bolt and plasma pistol has been seen carrying a great blade that matches the appearance of the Lion Sword but which he never draws or wields. How such an individual acquired the blade, who he is or what he intends to do with it are mysteries unknown to the Imperium at large and perhaps even unknown to the Dark Angels chapter themselves.

Legion III - Emperor's Children - Fulgrim

-A master swordsman and one of the most agile and graceful of the Primarchs the lord of the Emperor's Children favored blades above all other weapons. So notable was Fulgrim's passion for swordsmanship that many in his legion sought to emulate their liege and a specialized cadre of the greatest blade masters in the III Legion was formed, known as the Palatine Blades. As a master of the sword Fulgrim collected and wielded a wide variety of different blades, however in the final days of the Great Crusade the Primarch of the Emperor's Children obtained a new sword that quickly became his preferred weapon of war, the Blade of the Laer. Unknown to Fulgrim the Blade of the Laer was a tainted weapon corrupted by the power of Slaanesh. The proximity of the blade to Fulgrim likely contributed to, or was possibly even the driving force behind, Fulgrim's eventual fall to chaos and the complete collapse of the once disciplined and rigorous III Legion into the rabble of sadistic psychopaths they were to become. Fulgrim would last wield the Blade of the Laer during the Istvaan V Dropsite Massacre, where he would strike down and behead his brother Ferrus Manus. The horror of the act would allow the daemon possessing the sword to take over Fulgrim's body, abandoning the sword and leaving it empty of the former daemonic essence. The Primarch of the III Legion would eventually drive out the daemon and reclaim mastery of his body and from then on would wield the Kinebrach Anathame, a weapon of terrible potency gifted to him by Horus. The Anathame would allow Fulgrim to mortally wound the Primarch Roboute Guilliman and force him to enter stasis for nearly ten thousand years. The Blade of the Laer was given to Captain Lucius of the Emperor's Children who would become the champion of Slaanesh among the ranks of the traitor legions. Lucius would go on to wield the Blade of the Laer for many centuries, slaying countless champions and carving a bloody swathe across the galaxy.

Legion IV - Iron Warriors - Perturabo

-Alone among the Primarchs the lord of the Iron Warriors did not habitually carry a dedicated close combat weapon, preferring to rely mostly on the inbuilt heavy weapons of his customized suit of tactical dreadnought armor and the crushing power of his fists. Perturabo would come into possession of the hammer Forgebreaker after the Istvaan V Dropsite Massacre and would wield that weapon throughout the rest of the Horus Heresy. However his primary weaponry was still built into his armor, which he called the Logos. During the Great Crusade the Primarch of the Iron Warriors built a pair of quad barrelled projectile cannons into the wrists of his armor, during the Horus Heresy the increasingly unstable and paranoid Perturabo would continue to upgrade his armor, adding thicker plating, stronger power fields, and more guns. By the time he was sent to confront Angron and bring him to heel for the traitor Primarch Horus he had added an array of additional cannons and grenade launchers to the back of his armor. If this habit of continued improvements and upgrades continued after the traitor's defeat at Terra and the retreat of the Iron Warriors into the Eye of Terror then who knows what the daemon Primarch Perturabo may look like now, how large his armor has gotten or whether anything of the Primarch or his original humanoid form can still be seen. 

Legion V - White Scars - Jaghatai Khan

-The White Tiger Dao is without a doubt the signature weapon of the Primarch Jaghatai Khan. This curved long-sword is larger than an unaugmented human could easily lift and yet was wielded with incredible speed and agility by the master of the V Legion during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. Among the peerless champions of the Primarchs few could match the Khan in skill with a blade. Jaghatai may not have been as strong as other Primarchs, nor did he possess great psychic strength, but his speed and dexterity were in a class of their own and allowed him to weave a deadly dance of steel with his blade that none could stand against for long. While some of the weapons of the Primarchs remain prized relics in their chapters to this day the fate of the White Tiger Dao is unknown. In the aftermath of the Horus Heresy the Primarch Jaghatai Khan disappeared, chasing a force of Eldar into the webway. Whether the Khan still lives or perished long ago is unknown and it is likely the White Tiger Dao was with him when he disappeared, certainly no mention of the relic blade has been made in the long centuries since that dark day.

Legion VI - Space Wolves - Leman Russ

-The most famous weapon wielded by the Primarch Leman Russ is also the weapon he liked the least. Known as the Spear of Russ this magnificent power spear was forged by the hand of the Emperor himself, one of a pair alongside the famous weapon of the Captain General of the Legio Custodes. The Spear of Russ carried a dark wyrd however, a cursed weapon with strange properties. No matter how many times Russ tried to rid himself of the weapon it would always return to him. If he left it behind somewhere it would inexplicably find its way back to him, if he threw it away it would always be found. It was not until Russ undertook to slay the traitor Warmaster Horus that he finally chose to wield the spear willingly and it is likely that the mysterious properties of the spear played some role in his show down with Horus aboard the Vengeful Spirit. The Spear of Russ would remain with the Space Wolves after the disappearance of Leman Russ and was interred in a reliquary on the world of Garm, a planet that falls within the wider protectorate domain of the chapter and was guarded by a permanent garrison of space marines. An attack on Garm by the Thousand Sons saw the spear captured and in the attempt to recover the relic the young Blood Claw Ragnar Blackmane would hurl the spear into the eye of the daemon Primach Magnus the Red, preventing him from manifesting on the surface of the planet. Though this action undoubtedly saved the planet from the forces of chaos the loss of the spear was a terrible blow and Ragnar was ultimately banished from the chapter for a time, sent to serve in the honor guard of the Navigator House Bellisarius. Eventually Ragnar and a small warband of Space Wolves were able to recover the spear some years later, snatching it from the clutches of the Thousand Sons and saving the chapter from a terrible chaos ritual that threatened to plunge the whole chapter into the madness of the Curse of the Wulfen.

Legion VII - Imperial Fists - Rogal Dorn 

-From his earliest days serving the Imperium the Primarch Rogal Dorn wielded his favored chainsword Storm's Teeth. This massive weapon, far too large for any but a Primarch to wield, is said to have been forged by the weaponsmiths of Inwit and would be carried by the Primarch of the Imperial Fists throughout the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. Storm's Teeth have the dark honor of being one of the few weapons in the galaxy to have slain a Primarch, having been used by Dorn to slay the traitor Primarch Alpharius during his attempted incursion into the Sol system ahead of the Warmaster Horus' massed assault on Terra. In addition to Storm's Teeth the Primarch of the VII Legion often carried a master-work boltgun known as The Voice of Terra. The Voice of Terra was a gift to Rogal Dorn from the Custodian Guard to honor his appointment as the Emperor's Praetorian and was forged in reflection of the Custodians own peerless weaponry but up-scaled and modified to fit the hand of a Primarch. It is not known what happened to either of these weapons after the death of Rogal Dorn in his last fight to oppose an incursion by the traitor legions into the area of the Cadian Gate. It is possible that both weapons still reside in the armories of the Imperial Fists aboard their mobile Fortress Monastery of the Phalanx, or perhaps they were stolen by the traitors after they had slain Rogal Dorn.

Legion VIII - Night Lords - Konrad Curze 

-The ever fickle and mercurial Primarch of the Night Lords used a number of weapons throughout the Great Crusade. One was a master-crafted Nostraman chainglaive of ancient provenance, fitted with an archaeotech motor which ran much quieter than modern weapons. At some point Curze discarded the weapon, leaving it haphazardly strewn about in his inner sanctum and took instead to carrying a pair of matched lightning claws known as Mercy and Forgiveness and a set of deadly throwing knives called the Widowmakers. Curze's lightning claws were quite unlike most such weapons, built into the backs of his vambraces, not worn on separate gauntlets and composed of two long blades rather than the four or five blades common to the weapon type. These reaping blades were the favored weapons of Curze towards the end of the Great Crusade and into the early years of the Horus Heresy. The cursed Primarch of the VIII Legion wielded these blades on the killing fields of Istvaan V and wet them with the blood of his loyalist brother's legionaries. Curze crossed blades with Corvus Corax and would later fight many battles against the Dark Angels culminating in Curze becoming trapped aboard the flagship of the first legion, the Invincible Reason. Curze would escape the Invincible Reason and cut a bloody swathe across Macragge before he was finally defeated and captured. Rather than kill Curze the Primarch Sanguinius ultimately chose to stick him into a stasis pod and fire him into the depths of space where he was eventually found and unintentionally rescued by scavengers and after a fraught journey reunited with the scattered remains of his legion. Mercy and Forgiveness were lost in his capture and Curze never chose to take up alternative weapons from the armories of his legion but instead replaced his lost armor and weapons with far inferior recreations before he was ultimately cut down by an Imperial assassin.

Legion IX - Blood Angels - Sanguinius

-While the Primarch Sanguinius had several prominent blades that he would wield including the Blade Encarmine and the Moonsilver Blade, his most famous and destructive weapon by far was the Spear of Telesto. This weapon featured a spear-tip blade in the shape of a blood-drop with a hollow interior. Like many famous weapons of the era the Spear of Telesto was a supremely lethal powered blade capable of cutting through almost anything but that was not all it could do. At the command of Sanguinius the blade could emit a devastatingly powerful energy beam. How the spear did this or what powered it are complete mysteries, the blade only reacts and powers up for a wielder with the blood of Sanguinius or his sons. Where Sanguinius acquired the weapon or who made it remain unknown to the wider Imperium yet among the entire panoply of the Primarchs few can boast a more powerful or esoteric weapon. Unlike most of the weapons of the Primarchs the Spear of Telesto could and would be used by space marines and would continue to see service in the hands of Blood Angels heroes into the forty-first millennium.

Legion X - Iron Hands - Ferrus Manus

-Renowned for the incredible living silver metal of his arms the Primarch of the Iron Hands was a master craftsman who forged many remarkable weapons during the decades of the Great Crusade and wielded many in battle. Ferrus' armor alone incorporated a variety of deadly energy and projectile weapons that he could call on and unleash at will, yet the most infamous weapon wielded by Ferrus Manus was one forged by another Primarch entirely, and not one renowned for his skill at the forge either, the great hammer Forgebreaker. Fulgrim, the Primarch of the Emperor's Children, forged the great hammer for his closest brother as a symbol of their bond and friendship. When Fulgrim failed to turn Ferrus against the Emperor the hammer took on a much darker significance and was wielded by Ferrus Manus during the loyalist assault on the traitors at Istvaan V. No matter his righteous rage Ferrus proved unable to defeat Fulgrim in personal combat and was beheaded by the blade of the traitor. After his death the hammer was passed around several times, ending up in the hands of Perturabo, the Primarch of the Iron Warriors, who would go on to wield the weapon through much of the Horus Heresy. What happened to the hammer in the aftermath of the traitor's defeat at Terra is unknown, it may still be in the hands of the dread daemon Primarch Perturabo to this day, kept somewhere in his fortress on the daemon world of Medrengard.  

Legion XII - World Eaters - Angron 

-The Primarch Angron is one of the few, perhaps the only, Primarch to have treated his wargear with little regard and was known to have discarded weapons regularly whenever they became too damaged to be effective. For some reason the Primarch of the World Eaters did not believe much in repairing damaged weapons and would simply take up a new blade, typically a chainaxe of some variety, forged by the legion artificers and wield that instead. Despite this callous disregard for his personal wargear the Primarch Angron's most famous weapons were the paid axes Gorefather and Gorechild. The larger axe, Gorefather, Angron would wield in his right hand while in the left he would lash out at his foes with the smaller and lighter Gorechild. Angron would wield both axes on Istvaan III and Istvaan V and would use them for some time during the Horus Heresy until he smashed both to ruin digging himself out of a pile of rubble. Although Angron had forbidden the legion to recover or repair his discarded weapons the Primarch's equerry Kharn chose to recover Gorechild and repair it, stealing replacement Mica Dragon teeth from a skeleton hanging in the legion's trophy halls. From then on Gorechild would become the favored weapon of Khorne's mortal champion and would be wielded by Kharn on countless battlefields for the next ten millennia. Although less well known or seen as often the other axe, Gorefather, was recovered and restored as well and would go on to become a prized relic of the XII Legion and the followers of Khorne in general, passed around and wielded as a massive double-handed weapon by the warriors of the traitor legions. Although it is unclear how often he actually used it Angron would also carry a master-crafted plasma pistol known as the Spite Furnace into battle.

Legion XIII - Ultramarines - Roboute Guilliman 

-The Primarch Roboute Guilliman was famed for his vast collection of relic weaponry that could be seen displayed in his personal quarters aboard the XIII Legion flagship the Macragge's Honour. Many unique, irreplaceable, ancient, esoteric and mysterious weapons could be found in that collection but the Primarch of the XIII favored a specific trio of weapons that he would typically carry into battle. A master-work power sword known as the Gladius Incandor, a huge power fist called the Hand of Dominion, and a massively oversized bolt weapon known as the Arbitrator. Now returned to lead the Imperium in the forty-first millennium Guilliman has once more taken up arms against the enemies of the Emperor and the Hand of Dominion is still among his favored weapons, now fitted with a massive under-slung heavy bolter. But it is the sword he now carries in place of the Gladius Incandor that truly strikes fear in the hearts of his enemies, the fabled sword of the Emperor of Mankind. This enormous powered blade emits a blazing flame that is anathema to the powers of the warp. Daemons struck down by the Emperor's Sword are not just banished back to the warp like would normally be the case but are undone in their entirety, their very essence obliterated. Few things can make the immortal powers of the warp truly know fear but the Emperor's Sword is one of them.

Legion XIV - Death Guard - Mortarion 

-The grim and towering figure of the Primarch Mortarion has one of the most notably signature weapons of all the Primarchs, a blade that he never parted with or set aside for another and wielded from the day he was rediscovered by the Emperor to the terrible battlefields of the forty-first millennium. As a youth growing up on the poisoned world of Barbarus one of the first weapons wielded by Mortarion was a reaping scythe, an agricultural implement he wielded to devastating effect as a weapon against his enemies. After Barbarus was discovered by the Imperium and Mortarion was reunited with the Emperor and given command of a legion the Primarch of the Death Guard would reforge his humble scythe into the dread weapon Silence. An enormous scythe with a rotary saw blade on the very end and shrouded in a deadly power field the signature weapon of Mortarion was used to reap a bloody tally through hordes of foes across some of the most savage and nightmarish battlefields of the Great Crusade. After the outbreak of the Horus Heresy the Primarch Mortarion would continue to wield his weapon against the Emperor's loyalists and even his elevation to the status of a daemon Primarch would not change his preference for the massive sycthe blade. To this day the insect-winged, hooded and poison spewing form of the daemon Primarch Mortarion can still be seen wielding his terrible scythe. In fact so signature is Mortarion's scythe that many within the Death Guard began to emulate their lord and the legion produced their own unique power blades known as Manreaper Scythes. These weapons would serve as the signature weapons of Mortarion's elite Deathshroud Terminator bodyguards, the First Captain Calas Typhon and would be wielded by many other officers and heroes of the fourteenth legion. Alongside Silence the Primarch Mortarion also wields a devastating energy pistol of unknown origin and function known as the Lantern, a weapon he still possesses and uses into the forty-first millennium.

Legion XV - Thousand Sons - Magnus

-In truth the prodigious psychic power of Magnus the Red was the weapon most enemies truly feared from the Primarch of the Thousand Sons but like all of his brothers Magnus did bear several powerful and arcane weapons. His chosen blade was known as the Blade of Ahn-Nunurta. Forged to resemble the weapon of the ancient Prosperine war god the sword was a force blade of prodigious power and sized to fit the hand of a Primarch. Conventional protections proved of little worth against a weapon that could be imbued with all the psychic might of the Primarch of the Thousand Sons. Magnus the Red also occasionally wielded a plasma-type pistol Psyfire Serpenta. Magnus would summon the pistol to his hand whenever he needed it and banish it when he was done, leaving many to speculate whether the gun was a real, tangible object, or merely a visual representation of the psychic powers of the Primarch, but given the terrible fate of Prospero and the Thousand Sons legion it is unlikely that anyone will ever now be able to prove or disprove those theories.  

Legion XVI - Sons of Horus - Horus Lupercal

-It is certainly the case that Horus Lupercal must have wielded a variety of weapons in his service during the Great Crusade but if so they have been entirely forgotten about. Rather the signature weapons of the Warmaster Horus were the Warmaster's Talon or simply the Talon of Horus, and a huge power mace known as Worldbreaker. The great mace Worldbreaker was not just a weapon but also served as the symbol of office of the Warmaster and was given to Horus as a gift by the Emperor to signify his promotion to that exalted rank, officially recognized as first among equals. It is also said that the Emperor forged Worldbreaker by his own hand. The second weapon though has had a much longer and more storied history. The massive lightning claw and inbuilt combi-bolter known as the Talon of Horus was recovered from Horus' remains by the First Captain of the Sons of Horus, Ezekyle Abaddon. The former first captain would wield the Talon of Horus as a symbol of his right to rule the traitor legions as their new Warmaster and it would become one of the most infamous and dreaded weapons in the galaxy, a scourge on the Imperium that has survived far longer than its original wielder.

Legion XVII - Word Bearers - Lorgar 

-While the Primarch of the Word Bearers was not known for his martial prowess he was known for the massive crozius arcanum that he wielded, likely the prototype for the signature weapons of the chaplains, known as Illuminarum. The spiked head of this huge war-mace was capable of smashing apart the most monstrous war machines and crushing the skulls of the most terrible beasts. Yet the physical properties of this weapon were less important than the symbolic and spiritual meaning that it held for the followers of the Lectitio Divinatus, the burgeoning faith in the God Emperor. Though Lorgar turned traitor and fell to the powers of chaos the worship he began and the symbols of office he created continue to serve the Imperium to this day.

Legion XVIII - Salamanders - Vulkan 

-Raised on a world full of talented blacksmiths, taught to wield a hammer at the forge from his earliest days and grown to become one of the most accomplished craftsmen among the Primarchs it is little surprise then that Vulkan favored warhammers and wielded a large number of them in his time. Most of the weapons wielded by Vulkan were forged by his own hand, each one custom-fashioned and featuring technologies and capabilities of incredible sophistication. Perhaps the most famous of Vulkan's hammers was Dawnbringer, the weapon he famously wielded during the Istvaan V Dropsite Massacre. After the disaster on Istvaan the Primarch of the Salamanders was captured by the traitors and imprisoned in a labyrinth designed by Perturabo where he was repeatedly tortured and tormented by the Primarch Konrad Curze. Dawnbringer was kept in the prison to taunt and haunt Vulkan but the traitors were unaware that Dawnbringer featured an extremely powerful inbuilt teleportation system. Eventually managing to reach the hammer Vulkan was able to teleport himself a great distance across the galaxy to Macragge where he fell out of the sky as a burning comet to crash into the surface. After many strange events Vulkan was revived on Nocturne and then journeyed in secret to Terra. Under the guidance of the Emperor the Primarch Vulkan forged for himself a new hammer to replace Dawnbringer, the hammer he would call Urdrakule, or Burning Hand. The ultimate fate of either of Vulkan's legendary hammers is unknown, as is the fate of Vulkan himself for that matter. At some point Vulkan was released from his service guarding the Golden Throne and was last seen fighting the orks on Ullanor during the Invasion of the Beast. Unknown to the Imperium however Vulkan is a perpetual who does not appear to be able to die in any conventional sense of the word and though he has not been seen since the Invasion of the Beast it is entirely possible that he still lives and carries Urdrakule to this day.

Legion XIX - Raven Guard - Corvus Corax 

-Perhaps alone among all the Primarchs the lord of the Raven Guard did not wield a particular set of individually named weapons of unique providence and highly advanced technology, at least not really. The weapons of Corvus Corax were known as the Panoply of the Raven Lord and were made up of a pair of master-crafted lightning claws, an energized power whip and a pair of archaeotech pistols. All of these weapons were deadly and exemplars of their kind but otherwise not particularly unique or special. Instead the most notable weapon wielded by Corvus Corax was in fact the bladed wings of his archaeotech jump pack known a the Korvidine Pinions. Forged initially during the Dark Age of Technology the technology of the Korvidine Pinions was inscrutable to the adepts of the Imperium, irreplaceable and one of a kind. The pinions granted Corvus the ability to soar through their air with incredible speed and agility, not all that different from the aerial maneuvers of the winged Primarch Sanguinius though accomplished through technology rather than mutated biology. In addition to granting Corvus the power of flight the metallic wings of the Korvidine Pinions were razor-sharp and made for lethal and devastating weapons. Crashing into a crowd of foes from the sky Corax would whip his wings around at will, slicing apart multiple foes at a time, able to split even power armor with ease. Though horribly damaged during the Istvaan V Dropsite Massacre the pinions were painstakingly restored by the Techmarines of the Raven Guard and returned to the Primarch Corax. The lord of the Raven Guard would continue to wear and wield the Korvidine Pinions throughout the rest of the Horus Heresy and likely took them with him when he disappeared into the Eye of Terror, never to be seen again.

Legion XX - Alpha Legion - Alpharius Omegon 

-Whenever the Primarch of the Alpha Legion was actually witnessed on the battlefield, wearing a suit of heavily ornamented power armor and standing taller than the legionaries around him, the lord of the XX Legion would be seen wielding a variety of strange and esoteric weapons. The best known of these strange weapons is the double-bladed spear known as the Pale Spear. Rumored to have been forged by a xenos species who lived long before the Eldar came into existence the blades of the spear appear to flicker in and out of phase with reality while they are being wielded. No physical defense can withstand the strange effects of the Pale Spears blades and when they cut flesh they obliterate it at a molecular level, leaving gaping, smoking and bloodless wounds where the matter has been distintegrated rather than cut in any conventional sense. In addition to the Pale Spear the Primarch Alpharius would typically carry a master-crafted plasma blaster, a devastating weapon of ancient manufacture and all but irreplaceable. Apparently cut down in combat against Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Imperial Fists, it is unknown what happened to his panoply of war, whether they were destroyed or recovered and repurposed by Dorn and the Imperial Fists. It is also notable that Alpharius appears to have been spotted many times after his apparent death in combat against Dorn and was again reputed to have been slain by Roboute Guilliman during the Scouring.

So there you have it, the most famous and iconic weapons of each Primarch, and something about what happened to them and where some of them are today. Hope you enjoyed it!